politics & government

lessons learned: how the federal shutdown hit busy season 2019

by

broken system. broken trust. broken tax season.

selected irs inventories and levels of service pre-shutdown and post-shutdown

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the government shutdown of 2018-19 was a traumatic experience that cpas and tax preparers will remember, with a shudder, for years to come.

more on busy season: the irs mess: taxpayer’s roadmap is a plumber’s nightmare |  fixing the irs: tax professionals speak out |  refunds rebound, up 1.3% from last year  | tax refund fury roils busy season |  irs in crisis: tax professionals bear the brunt  |  the tax season funnies: worst video game ever  |  taxpayer advocate slams congress over funding  |  1.6 million tax clients gone missing?  |  busy season: fear, hope & frustration  |  alternative minimum tax: what’s it like today? |  clients’ top worry: going broke  |  the latest rules on charitable donations |

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

it was the longest shutdown in history, and it hit precisely at crunch time for the tax cuts and jobs act and just as tax season was getting underway.

look at some of the stats from the taxpayer advocate service for service just before and just after (not during) the shutdown: read more →

fixing the irs: tax professionals speak out

by

what accountants are saying, in a word cloud

“all it takes is money.” sounds easy? except for the politics.

by 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

wow! we asked for it, and we got it: an avalanche of advice on how to fix the irs.

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 has always received smart, candid, and often outspoken responses to our busy season survey—  thousands of tax preparers from sea to shining sea telling us what’s happening in their offices.

click here to open survey

more on busy season:  refunds rebound, up 1.3% from last year  | tax refund fury roils busy season |  irs in crisis: tax professionals bear the brunt  |  the tax season funnies: worst video game ever  |  taxpayer advocate slams congress over funding  |  1.6 million tax clients gone missing?  |  busy season: fear, hope & frustration  |  alternative minimum tax: what’s it like today? |  clients’ top worry: going broke  |  the latest rules on charitable donations  |  busy season: accountants worry for u.s. economy  |  tax shops bulk up for big busy season  |  busy season: the busiest ever? |  more real-time busy season coverage here

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

but this year, halfway through the season, we asked a loaded question: how would you fix the irs? the professionals in the trenches of tax prep know what the problems are and what to do about them. they also seemed a bit miffed (to put it mildly) that the solutions seem so obvious, yet the problems keep compounding. read more →

irs in crisis: tax professionals bear the brunt

by

join the survey. get the results.

america’s tax and accounting practitioners are suffering the brunt of the shortcomings at the irs. but the profession may have some of the solutions.

that’s why we’re asking in today’s bonus question:
how would you fix the irs?
join the survey. get the results.

special to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

national taxpayer advocate nina e. olson has issued to congress a scathing report on worsening dysfunction at the internal revenue service.

more on busy season 2019:  the tax season funnies: worst video game ever  |  taxpayer advocate slams congress over funding  |  busy season: fear, hope & frustration  |  alternative minimum tax: what’s it like today?  |  clients’ top worry: going broke  |  the latest rules on charitable donations  |  accountants worry for u.s. economy |  tax shops bulk up for big busy season  |  busy season: the busiest ever?  |  free to pro members: busy season 2019 trend report

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the annual report to congress, mandated by law, presents a lurid indictment of an essential government agency that “is stretched to its breaking point.” read more →

taxpayer advocate slams congress over funding

by

“shortcuts’ have become the norm.”

special to 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

national taxpayer advocate nina e. olson has slammed congress hard in the taxpayer advocate service annual report 2017. after a series of irs budget cuts over the last several years, olson says she sees the daily consequences of reduced funding and the choices made by the agency in the face of funding constraints.

more: busy season: accountants worry for u.s. economy | tax shops bulk up for big busy season | busy season: the busiest ever? | survey: tax season launches with a whimper | 16 big questions for tax season | survey: tax accountants alarmed by tcja & shutdown

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

“funding cuts have rendered the irs unable to provide acceptable levels of taxpayer service, unable to upgrade its technology…and unable to maintain compliance programs that both promote and protect taxpayer rights,” olson said in her preface to the annual report. “‘shortcuts’ have become the norm, and ‘shortcuts’ are incompatible with high-quality tax administration.”

read more →

busy season: accountants worry for u.s. economy

by

卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer: the business & economic outlook

but upbeat on their clients’, their firm’s, and their families’ outlook.

today’s bonus question:
the tcja impact on your practice and your clients
join the survey: get the results.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 research

tax and accounting professionals are headed into the jaws of busy season 2019 fairly confident in the business and economic outlook for their clients, their firms and themselves – except they are distinctly negative on the direction of the nation’s economy as a whole, according to the latest readings from the annual 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season barometer.

more on busy season:  tax shops bulk up for big busy season  |  busy season: the busiest ever?  |  survey: tax season launches with a whimper16 big questions for tax season   |  survey: tax accountants alarmed by tcja & shutdown | shutdown: what to tell tax clients during “the lapse” | beware the leeches and consultants | charitable giving under tcja | why padding tax deductions is a risky proposition |  handling the delay in 199a regs |  survey: clients rush for tcja answers |

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

free to pro members: busy season 2019 trend report (log-in required)

with more than 475 practitioners reporting, 52 percent expect better times ahead for their firms, 37 percent see no change, and only 10% are bracing for declines, yielding a weighted average of about 2.4 on a five-point scale. read more →

16 big questions for tax season

by

how's busy season so far? join the survey. get the results.
how’s your busy season measure up? join the survey: get the metrics.

what’s your busy season forecast? join the survey: get the results.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the government shutdown could not have come at a worse moment for the internal revenue service.

the tax season will bring its annual avalanche of returns. the irs was already working with fewer agents than it had a few years ago, and now it’s even more shorthanded.

the new tax cuts and jobs act tax code is poorly understood by agents who need to be trained and taxpayers and tax preparers who need to be informed. even after the shutdown ends, the backlog will be overwhelming.

the biggest problem may be the uncertainties. we can think of at least 16: read more →

2019: buckle up for a bumpy road

by

pro members: click here to get full article. or go pro here.

global trade wars, political winds buffet business.

by kayleigh padar
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

cpas should be prepared to help their clients navigate an increasingly unstable global economy and burgeoning challenges with technology, particularly cyber threats, according to a new global study of c-level executives.

more surveys & research: jobs report: 43,000 new hires  |  cpa wealth advisor survey  |  survey: clients rush for tcja answers  |  join the accounting firm and operations technology survey  |  mergers vs. clients: winners and losers  |

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the annual study from atkearney shows a bumpy road ahead for global executives, from the effects of brexit to the increase in targeted fake news campaigns. read more →

auditors: the world needs you in the fight against terrorism

by

what the profession needs to know about money laundering. 

by wm. dennis huber and larry crumbley

there are difficulties in measuring funds channeled into financing terrorist organizations and activities worldwide. various sources estimate this funding to be between $590 billion and $1.5 trillion through money laundering. pwc suggests that “money laundering transactions are estimated at 2% to 5% global gdp, or roughly $1-2 trillion annually.”

however, financing terrorist organizations and activities is not necessarily the result of money laundering. financing terrorist organizations and activities may be accomplished by reverse money laundering, or “money dirtying” which may make financing terrorist organizations and activities even more difficult to estimate.

just as evidence of fraud cannot be ignored, so too evidence of financing terrorist organizations can no longer be ignored.

the goal of money-launderers is, like that of a corporate enterprise, to maximize profits and reduce risk while the goal of terrorists, on the other hand, is to further a political agenda or ideology, or to destroy or kill with no regard to profits and with little regard for risk. read more →

survey results: security and id theft emerge as top tax season worry

by

even as irs sees declines.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

the 卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间 busy season survey is turning up a disturbing finding, one that looks like it’s only going to get worse.  join the survey. get the answers

late and unprepared clients scored high, indicated by 41.6 percent of respondents. staffing issues, at 34 percent, was right up there, too. but the most common concern was security, privacy, and identity theft, checked off by 46.2 percent.

more on busy season: tax refunds up slightly   |   irs budget: penny-wise, pound-foolish   |   irs taxpayer advocate questions preparation of tax preparers   |   future state or future shock? irs watchdog warns of dubious irs plans   |

join the survey. get the results
join the survey. get the results.

tax season productivity hacks   |   tax filings data looking less squirrely   |   letting staff go after tax season   |  how to sell bundled tax services   |   survey results: who’s afraid of busy season 2017?   |   a little tax humor   |   tax return filings still lag, but pros hold 57% of market   |   checklist: 46 avoidable tax-filing errors – if clients only knew   |   survey results: practitioners bullish on busy season 2017   |   free instant download: sample fee schedule for 1040s   |   tax filings down, but irs blames the calendar   |   busy season 2017 gets off to strong start   |  2017 fee survey: price for non-itemized 1040s advances 6% to $176    |   the annual tax meeting is dead. clients killed it.   |   mandatory saturdays stir controversy 

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

it isn’t often that one category of concern reaches the mid-40s. in 2016, “clients late or unprepared” is the only one that’s consistently up there, ranging from a low of 47.3 in 2016 to 59.3 percent in 2010. but generally, the numbers for that category have been improving.

read more →

irs budget: penny-wise, pound-foolish

by

irs funding in decline. ($ billions, inflation adjusted)

tax professionals feel the pain.

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

people don’t often have much nice to say about the internal revenue service. but everybody seems to like what internal revenues pay for—the powerful military, the court system, the interstate highways, air travel safety, the control of disease, the prevention of pollution, national parks, health benefits for elected officials, and so much more.

without taxes, we don’t have a great country. we don’t even have civilization. and without the irs, we don’t have taxes.

despite the crucial importance of the irs, congress has reduced the service’s budget to the point where lost revenues may exceed (if they aren’t already) cost savings. and the problem can only get worse, professionals say, with a 14-percent budget cut next year, as reportedly planned by the white house. read more →

irs taxpayer advocate questions preparation of tax preparers

by

three big issues: code, cooperation, competence.

table shows reduction in irs geographic presence and employees since 2011.

 

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

national taxpayer advocate nina olson, who heads the taxpayer advocate service, is citing three broad areas that congress should deal with if it hopes to avoid revenue catastrophe at the internal revenue service.

related: future state or future shock? irs watchdog warns of dubious irs plans

goprocpa.comexclusively for pro members. log in here or 2022世界杯足球排名 today.

the three main issues are: read more →

future state or future shock? irs watchdog warns of dubious irs plans

by

questionable solution: irs outsourcing taxpayer communication.

 

by rick telberg
卡塔尔世界杯常规比赛时间

a few years ago the internal revenue service launched a belt-tightening overhaul it called the future state.

the changes were devised with good intentions. the service wanted to deal with taxpayers more through the internet and less over the phone or in person. it would also expect taxpayers to hire outside tax specialists to give them advice that the irs had once offered as a free service.

ideally, all of this would reduce the cost of collecting taxes. but the taxpayer advocate service soon warned that the changes would lead to more aggravation and less goodwill among taxpayers. less goodwill, the tas said, could lead to less compliance, which translates into less revenue to the united states treasury.

the irs heard the warnings and initiated a country-wide series of forums and a website dedicated to explaining the future state plan. irs representatives even went before congress to explain that the service was not eliminating all phone or personal contact with taxpayers.

national taxpayer advocate nina olson, who heads the tas, commended the irs on these outreach efforts, but she felt that the real problems had not been addressed. the plan failed to consider and incorporate the needs and preferences of people who are expected to voluntarily comply with their tax obligations, i.e., american taxpayers.

read more →